Okonkwo

Okonkwo, the son of the effeminate and lazy Unoka, strives to make his way in a world that seems to
value manliness. In so doing, he rejects everything for which he believes his father stood. Unoka was
idle, poor, profligate, cowardly, gentle, and interested in music and conversation. Okonkwo consciously
adopts opposite ideals and becomes productive, wealthy, thrifty, brave, violent, and adamantly opposed
to music and anything else that he perceives to be “soft,” such as conversation and emotion. He is stoic
to a fault.

Okonkwo achieves great social and financial success by embracing these ideals. He marries three women
and fathers several children. Nevertheless, just as his father was at odds with the values of the
community around him, so too does Okonkwo find himself unable to adapt to changing times as the
white man comes to live among the Umuofians. As it becomes evident that compliance rather than
violence constitutes the wisest principle for survival, Okonkwo realizes that he has become a relic, no
longer able to function within his changing society.

Okonkwo is a tragic hero in the classical sense: although he is a superior character, his tragic flaw—the
equation of manliness with rashness, anger, and violence—brings about his own destruction. Okonkwo is
gruff, at times, and usually unable to express his feelings (the narrator frequently uses the word
“inwardly” in reference to Okonkwo’s emotions). But his emotions are indeed quite complex, as his
“manly” values conflict with his “unmanly” ones, such as fondness for Ikemefuna and Ezinma. The
narrator privileges us with information that Okonkwo’s fellow clan members do not have—that Okonkwo
surreptitiously follows Ekwefi into the forest in pursuit of Ezinma, for example—and thus allows us to see
the tender, worried father beneath the seemingly indifferent exterior.

Okonkwo

Okonkwo is a self-made, well-respected member of the Umuofia clan. Though outwardly stern and
powerful, much of his life is dictated by internal fear. His greatest, overwhelming worry is that he will
become like his father – lazy, unable to support his family, and cowardly. Okonkwo considers many of his
father’s characteristics to be feminine. Much of Okonkwo’s behavior results from a reactionary desire to
be completely unlike his father. This means that Okonkwo attempts to work hard, provide for his family
materially, be brave, and be masculine in every possible way. As a result, Okonkwo’s becomes successful
in many ways – he becomes very wealthy, holds a high-ranked position in the community, has three
wives, and is known for his skill as a wrestler and warrior. But he also tends toward emotions that are
extreme, and his fear motivates him to take actions which are often unnecessary and ultimately
destructive. His fear of being feminine leads him to assist in the murder of Ikemefuna whom he loved, to
beat his wives, be emotionally distant from his children, and to disown his oldest son.
As an uncompromising man’s man, Okonkwo’s relationship towards his family is one of complete
dictatorship. His three wives are there to serve him his food and raise his children. By seeing them as his
subjects, Okonkwo can justify his brutal behavior against them. He can beat his wives without guilt. He
can threaten Ekwefi with a gun when she talks back. He can rebuke Nwoye for listening to old wives’
tales. This sense of ownership is exemplified when Okonkwo takes Ikemefuna’s life. Though he does have
qualms about killing Ikemefuna, they are not qualms about whether or not he has the right to do it.
Okonkwo feels complete ownership over his family.

There is, however, the problem of love and intimacy. Okonkwo rarely shows these aspects of himself
since he considers emotion soft and feminine – but the emotions are there nonetheless. The fact that he
lies to Ikemefuna to protect the boy from fear and later feels guilty about killing him are proof of that
Okonkwo isn’t devoid of positive human emotions. But, whenever there is a clash between showing true
emotion and maintaining the show of his strength, Okonkwo will always go with the latter.

This doesn't mean that Okonkwo never admits he is wrong; more than anything, Okonkwo tries to follow
the laws of the clan. Whenever he breaks them – either deliberately through a loss of temper or
inadvertently as in shooting the boy – he never questions the punishments brought upon him. Okonkwo
abides by his punishment whether or not he thinks they are fair. This is one way of maintaining his honor
and reputation. He reads the laws literally, unlike his father who bent the rules and tried to circumvent
certain aspects of the law.

Thus we come to one of the central conflicts in the novel: the divide between Okonkwo’s personal pride
and the actions forced on him by the external social laws of the Umuofia. His final act of suicide is the
ultimate demonstration of things falling apart because it is the first and only time that Okonkwo
purposefully and calculatedly breaks the clan laws. As a character, Okonkwo remains pretty consistent
throughout the book. We see no sudden changes in behavior or mindset; in fact, that may be Okonkwo’s
problem – his inability to adapt or compromise his ethics to changing situations that call for more
tolerance or compassion. Okonkwo, whose sense of pride and dignity continues until the end, chooses to
live and die on his own terms rather than submit to the white man. For Okonkwo, giving in would be
against so much of what he has stood for – courage, tradition, and manliness.